Legacy/Shmegacy

A lawyer named Strange died, and his friend asked the tombstone maker to inscribe on his tombstone, “Here lies Strange, an honest man, and a lawyer.”
The inscriber insisted that such an inscription would be confusing, for every passersby would tend to think that three men were buried under the stone. However he suggested an alternative: He would inscribe, “Here lies a man who was both honest and a lawyer.”
That way, whenever anyone walked by the tombstone and read it, they would be certain to remark: “That`s Strange”.

Ok, we all know that G-d made a flood which only Noah and his family survived. We also know that a few years later the inhabitants of Babel decided to build the “Tower of Babel”, a structure that would reach to
the sky. Why build such a tower? Two reasons: for security, and to make a “legacy” of themselves.
Sounds nice, doesn’t it? Obviously not, just see what G-d’s reaction to this tower building was. He turned some of them into apes, mixed up their languages, dispersed them all over the world etc. I guess this wasn’t the best of ideas…
What would warrant such a response? What’s wrong with wanting to leave a legacy? Don’t we all want to be remembered for some great achievement of ours?  Why?
I’ll tell you why! It is barely a few years after the world was flooded because of corruption and sin. And all these people have to think about is ‘how are we going to leave a legacy!’ that is all that’s on their minds! How many pages of history books will be filled with our story of unprecedented architectural achievement.
Hello! How about creating a moral code? Schools? Houses of worship? Did not the entire globe get punished due to a lack of morals? Hadn’t they learned that in order to keep the world going, there are important changes that must be implemented?
No, they were busy leaving a legacy. Who cares about a legacy! There’s a world out there in distress and in dire need of help and hope. Leave your legacy alone and go make a difference. Your legacy can wait, the
world cannot. That is why they were punished by G-d.
Legacy is nice; a bit egoistic, but nice. Especially if it’s not an Al Capone style legacy. But in times like this we must put our eulogies, obituaries and grave stones aside, and go change something in this world for the better.
We need Moshiach to come. There is no time for legacy… Let’s go!